The 5 Stupidest Lies Advertisers Expect You to Believe

DVR and Netflix aside, is there anyone alive who doesn't use commercials as a pee timer between segments of the show they're watching? I ask because I barely notice advertisements anymore. Over the years, they've just become white noise in the background that my brain has methodically learned to filter out. But every once in a while, something so buttfuck dumb will pop up, I get jarred out of a drooling stupor and thrown into a rage -- like this commercial about the biggest douchebag who ever lived.

I can't watch that without my hand involuntarily balling up into a fist. Maybe that's their intention, though. If I'm alert enough to fantasize about physically attacking that man, it means I'm paying attention, and few other advertisements bring me past the mental equivalent of shooing a fly from my potato salad. Maybe that's what ads have turned into now: forcing the attention of its viewers by pissing them off with techniques like ...

#5. Claiming that Food is Fun

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When I say the word "fun," what do you think of? Hanging out with friends? Throwing light bulbs off of the top of a roller coaster? Fighting children? Yes, fun is subjective because it's directly connected to entertainment, but I'm willing to bet that almost nobody said, "Eating a candy bar." And if you did, there's a pretty good chance that you're a boring piece of shit who seriously needs to get out of the goddamn house for a bit and meet some humans. Counselor humans.

Now, you may happen to be eating while doing any of those activities, and that's perfectly fine. Even just going out to a restaurant with your friends can be fun ... but it's not the act of eating that's supplying the entertainment. It's the dick jokes and putting soy sauce in Chad's Coke while he's in the shitter. Not once have I ever seen someone staring bored into space until their food arrived, and then immediately looked down at their plate and proclaimed, "Oh, man, this night really sucked until I saw the color of my pasta!"

But that's what "Wacky Mac" wants you to believe. In fact, they think you're so hopelessly fucking stupid that after eating their colored rotini, your brain's only function will be expressing amazement and bewilderment that chewing and swallowing a piece of food could be as entertaining as it just was.

In case calling food "fun" wasn't stupid enough, the candy industry takes it even further by reducing the portions and calling it "fun sized." Because as Snickers insinuates with that IQ castrating title, the less you have of something, the more entertaining it becomes.

See, that first one is pretty awesome. It's huge, and you can beat down muggers or something with it. It's more like a tool than a utensil of joy. That middle one is just a plain ol' Snickers bar. It's so plain, I'm surprised they even bothered naming it. But it's not until you get to the one that's half the size of your thumb that you can even think about letting loose and partying Andrew WK style.

Now that I think about it, if you're a dwarf and you're reading this article, you should start demanding that people refer to you as "fun size" from now on. I would totally do that.

#4. Making Non-Tech Products Sound Like Hi-Tech Miracles

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If there's one thing nerds know inside and out, it's that the newer the technology, the better the product. Like everything in life, yes, there are going to be exceptions, but I can run a whole lot more simultaneous porn windows on my brand new Alienware system than I could on my 7 year old Dell.

Advertisers know this, too, so they try to apply it to their not-even-remotely-fucking-technical products, and it makes me want to punch them in half every time I hear it. Like in this commercial for Energizer, where they refer to their sealing method as "power seal technology":

Wait, it's power seal technology? Man, they must have sealed the fucking shit out of that thing! The one thing I won't ever have to worry about with that battery is it suddenly becoming unsealed. But if it happens -- like maybe I got one whose technology is all floppy or something -- and it suddenly flies open and shoots battery juice all over my clothes, I'm covered. Because I wash my clothes in Tide, which has "Acti-Lift Technology."

I'm going to assume that's some kind of combination of the word "active" along with the idea that it lifts stains? I could look it up, but I don't fucking care. They've already insulted me enough with that bitch slap of a term -- they don't get to pile on more shame by making me waste time putting their name into Google ... like I did when I looked up "The Art of Shaving" and found that their razor has "smart technology."

Wait, why the hell would anyone pay $160 for a shaving razor? Oh, never mind, I see. It's because of the "smart technology." It's not just technology, it's ... OK, I give up, what the fuck is "smart technology"?

"The Power Shave Collection POWER RAZOR with Smart Technology helps you ensure your blade is always sharp. The built-in indicator light begins to fade from vibrant blue to white with every razor use to take the guesswork out of when to consider changing your blade."

Oh, I see. It's for people who have lost all feeling in their face, so they can't tell when the razor is pulling hairs out by the roots instead of cutting them. Yeah, I'll just go with that completely made up explanation.

#3. Making Up Bullshit Words to Sound Less Corporate

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Several years ago, Taco Bell put out a commercial that was so bad, it permanently lowered my threshold for sustained rage without action. I don't remember what year it was because seconds after hearing them use the word "melty," I started punching the air and screaming until I blacked out. The next time I opened my eyes, I had three children and a job with Cracked.

Not to be one-upped, Wendy's looked at that commercial and said, "You know, we really want in on some of that 'annoying potential customers' action, but we need to take it up a notch by mixing in a complete lack of creativity or originality." Then they stole that made-up ear fuck of a word and pretended it's always been a thing:

This isn't just a couple of soulless, talentless dumbasses who cousin-fucked their way into their job. Making up words in commercials is actually a thing that's encouraged in the industry. I assume it's because the people who make these ads have never met an actual human, and therefore have no idea how many ordinary people their commercials have turned into arsonists. Like the escaped demon who used the word "crunchtastic" to describe celery:

FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU!

They do it because getting people to latch on to these new words and phrases actually gives them more publicity. People look up the otherwise nonexistent word on Google, and bam -- there's info on the business. You see it all the time because we've proven in the past that we do in fact love to adopt these goddamn language abortions and repeat them until everyone in the world wants to drown us.